From cb1 at ST-AND.AC.UK Wed Aug 20 14:05:19 1997 From: cb1 at ST-AND.AC.UK (Christopher Beedham) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 15:05:19 +0100 Subject: conference announcement Message-ID: Conference announcement The XXXIst Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) will take place on 26-30 August 1998 at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. A First Circular will be sent to SLE members in November 1997. Anyone requiring further details now please contact Dr Christopher Beedham, Department of German, School of Modern Languages, The University, Buchanan Building, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9PH, Scotland/UK, e-mail: cb1 at st-andrews.ac.uk. To join the SLE please contact Prof. Dieter Kastovsky, Universität Wien, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universitätsstr. 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria, e-mail: dieter.kastovsky at univie.ac.at. From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at COLORADO.EDU Wed Aug 20 16:50:56 1997 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at COLORADO.EDU (FRAJZYNGIER ZYGMUNT) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:50:56 -0600 Subject: Final Program, Intl.Symposium on Reflexives and Reciprocals (fwd) Message-ID: FINAL PROGRAM International Symposium on Reflexives and Reciprocals August 29-30, 1997 Boulder, Colorado Room 158 A-B, University Memorial Center Friday, Aug. 29 8:30-9:00 - Opening Remarks, Peter Spear, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 9:00-9:30 - Bernd Heine, University of Cologne, Germany - Polysemy involving reflexive and reciprocal markers in African languages 9:30-10:00 - Mathias Schladt, University of Cologne, Germany - The Typology and Grammaticalization of Reflexives with Special Reference to Body Parts 10:00-10:30 - Nino Amiridze - Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi Georgia - Georgian grammaticalized body-part tav- and its role in the economic motivation of language. 10:30-10:45 - BREAK 10:45 - 11:15 - Suzanne Kemmer - Rice University, Houston, TBA 11:15-11:45 - Elly van Gelderen, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona - When's a Pronoun an Anaphor? 11:45-12:15 - Ekkehard Koenig, Free University of Berlin - Towards a Typology of Intensifiers (Emphatic Reflexives) 12:15-2:00 LUNCH 2:00-2:30 - Werner Abraham, University of Groningen, Netherlands - On the Intensifier 'Selbst' in German 2:30-3:00 - Ekaterina A. Lyutikova, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow - Reflexives and Emphasis in Tsakhur (Nakh-Dagestanian) 3:00-3:30 - Sergio Meira, Rice University, Houston, Texas - Reflexives and the Accidental Active-Stative Systems of Cariban 3:30-3:45 BREAK 3:45-4:15 - Donna Gerdts, Simon Fraser University, Urnaby, B.C., Canada - Core and Grammaticized Reflexives and Reciprocals in Halkomelem 4:15-4:45 - Jeff Turley, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah - A Prototype Analysis of Romance Indeterminate Reflexive Construction 4:45-5;15 - Ricardo Maldonado, Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas, UNAM, Jurica, Mexico - Conceptual Distance and Transitivity Increase in Spanish Reflexives Sunday, August 30 9:00-9:30 - Zygmunt Frajzyngier, University of Colorado - Affectedness, control and anaphora: the reflexive forms and functions 9:30-10:00 - Eric Reuland, University of Utrecht, Netherlands - Primitives of Binding 10:00-10:30 - Pierre Pica, URA 1720 CNRS, Paris, France - On the 'real' nature of reflexivity 10:30-10:45 BREAK 10:45-11:15 - Frantisek Lichtenberk, University of Auckland, - Reciprocals without Reflexives 11:15-11:45 - Elena Maslova, University of St. Petersburg, Russia and University of Bielefeld, Germany - Reciprocals in Yukaghir Languages 11:45-12:15 - Meichun Liu, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan ROC - Reciprocal Marking by Verbs 'Come' and 'Go' in Mandarin 12:15-2:00 LUNCH 2:00-2;30 - Martin Everaert, University of Utrecht - The Syntax (and Semantics) of Reciprocals 2:30-3:00 - William McGregor - Reflexive and reciprocal constructions in the Nyulnyulan languages (Dampier Land and Kimberley, Western Australia) 3:00-3:30 - Gunsoo Lee, St. Louis, MO - Referentiality and Long-distance Binding 3:30-3:45 Break 3:45-5:15 Free discussion of problems and issues related to reflexives and reciprocals. From tony at BENJAMINS.COM Wed Aug 20 20:14:30 1997 From: tony at BENJAMINS.COM (Tony Schiavo) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 16:14:30 -0400 Subject: New Books: Functional Linguistics Message-ID: John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the following new titles in the field of Functional Linguisics: CONTENT, EXPRESSION AND STRUCTURE STUDIES IN DANISH FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen et al. (eds.) 1996 xvi, 510 pp. Studies in Language Companion Series, 29 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 381 5 Price: $97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3032 3 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This collection of papers offers an alternative to mainstream functional linguistics on two points. Especially in American linguistics, function and structure are often viewed almost as polar opposites; in addition, structure is often understood as being only a matter of linguistic form - or expression - as opposed to content. The book tries to illustrate why function and structure must be understood as mutually dependent in relation to language - and why the most interesting aspect of language structure is the way it structures the content side of language. In this, the book represents a reaffirmation of traditional concerns in structural linguistics, especially with respect to the structural integrity of individual languages - but with a reversal of traditional priority: structure is not autonomous, but must be understood on the basis of function. Without being hostile to typological and universal generalizations, the articles suggest that similarities between languages can only be responsibly discussed on the basis of an understanding that includes a respect for language differences. The book contains discussions of a number of different languages including Nahuatl, Danish Sign Language, French, and Tlapanec, and focuses on the way meaning is organized in the grammar of Danish. A final section sums up theoretical perspectives. PRAGUE LINGUISTIC CIRCLE PAPERS TRAVAUX DU CERCLE LINGUISTIQUE DE PRAGUE VOLUME 2 Eva Hajicova, Oldrich Leska, Petr Sgall, Zdena Skoumalova (eds.) 1996 viii, 346 pp. US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 673 3 Price: $79.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 5442 7 Price: Hfl. 140,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Volume 2 of Prague Linguistic Circle Papers constitutes a single whole together with Vol. 1 of the series, reviving the classical series of Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague which was of a great importance for the development of European structural linguistics in the 1930s. In the present volume, nine Czech linguists and eight authors from abroad present new ideas in various domains from basic properties of the system of language to discourse types and to history of linguistics in the 20th century. Fundamental issues of structural linguistics are discussed by C.H. van Schooneveld and F. Cermak, those of quantitative linguistics by M. Tesitelova, of sentence structure by H.-H. Lieb, Y. Tobin, J. Panevova, T. Gross and J. Sabrsula, discourse patterns are dealt with by J. Hoffmannova, S. Cmejrkova and F. Sticha, phonology and graphemics by E. Battistella, A. Svoboda and P.A. Luelsdorff with S.V. Chesnokov, and the lexicon by L. Waugh and V. Strakova. For further information please e-mail Bernadette Keck: service at benjamins.com From fjn at U.WASHINGTON.EDU Thu Aug 21 01:56:13 1997 From: fjn at U.WASHINGTON.EDU (Frederick Newmeyer) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 18:56:13 -0700 Subject: forthcoming book on form and function In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970820150519.0068d618@bute.st-and.ac.uk> Message-ID: To all FUNKNET subscribers, I've just finished a book that I think will be of interest to many of you. It's called LANGUAGE FORM AND LANGUAGE FUNCTION and will be published by MIT Press. In a nutshell I argue that syntactic structure is BOTH 'autonomous' AND functionally motivated. I've put Chapter I on the Web if you would like to have a look. The URL is: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~fjn/lflf.html I won't be sending MIT Press the final version for another month, so if you have any comments I would love to hear them. --fritz newmeyer ********************************************* Frederick J. Newmeyer Professor and Chair Department of Linguistics University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-4340 USA TEL: 206-543-2046 FAX: 206-685-7978 E-MAIL: fjn at u.washington.edu HOME PAGE: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~fjn/ From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Sun Aug 24 23:05:47 1997 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 18:05:47 -0500 Subject: Givon book signing Message-ID: Tom Givon has just published an excellent Novel titled: "Running in the Tall Grass" (Harper-Collins, summer 1997). The book has been widely reviewed as a winner, and it will be reviewed locally in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday August 24. Givon will read from the book at a signing at the Barnes and Noble Book Store at 3003 West Holcomb Blvd in Houston on Wednesday, August 27 at 7:30 pm. Many of Givon's friends at Rice will be there, and I would like to invite any of you who might be interested to come by the Bookstore and chat with him on Wednesday evening. I have copies of some of the reviews, and would be glad to share them with anyone who is interested. Cheers, Jim Copeland James E. Copeland Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 285-5150 Home: (713) 666-9582 Fax: (713) 527-4718 From copelan at RUF.RICE.EDU Tue Aug 26 13:27:53 1997 From: copelan at RUF.RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 08:27:53 -0500 Subject: Givon Review Excerpts Message-ID: Folks, I have been overwhelmed with requests for copies of reviews of Tom Givon's "Running Through the Tall Grass". In order to respond to all at once I'm risking your disfavor by posting some excerpts on the Net. .. well, it's applied linguistics -- just as Eco was applied semiotics. Jim Copeland Reviews (and Quotes from Reviews) of Thomas Givon's "Running Through the Tall Grass" THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN (August 3, 1997) INTO THE HEART OF MADNESS by Helen E. Heltzel , Oregonian Book Editor With "Running Through the Tall Grass", Givon has a winner. Residence in Marseilles included front-row seat on Algeria. ...Thomas Givon, the redneck professor, doesn't fit anyone's idea of what an academic should look like. His sailor's cap and the toothpick dangling from his lips tell you right away he's no pipe-and-tweeds kind of fellow... Givon, a lone wolf who has grabbed life by the lapels while simultaneously earning [his academic degrees]...brings the strength of both worlds to his new novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass". A book that combines adventure story with character study and a vivid snapshot of a turbulent piece of recent history, it is one of the best works of fiction to come out of the Pacific Northwest in recent memory...Because Givon was on hand observing much of the action, his novel has a ring of authenticity that could exist only by being there. Yet it also displays a novelist's gift, including the ability to tell a story and delineate characters, and a keen ear for the written word... ...Central to Givon's story are the Pieds Noirs, literally black feet, which was the condescending name the French gave their Algerian countrymen. France looked down on this melange of foreigners who settled the Algerian shores. But to the Pieds Noirs themselves, the French connection was their obsession... Not unlike "The English Patient", Michael Ondaatje's celebrated novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass" envelopes the reader with its lyrical language, its limited cast of characters and a plot that insistently moves forward... Givon started what became "Running Through the Tall Grass" in the late 1960s. He saw great material in the Pieds Noirs, but "...I knew I had to get to Katanga to end the story...". His method: to enroll in another doctoral program back in the States, this time in linguistics, and apply for a fellowship to study Bantu languages in the Congo. So far so good. But when Givon completed his novel in the early 1970s, his agent couldn't sell it. Givon blames the influence of the French writer Albert Camus, who had been, quite coincidentally, a pieds noirs. "...I was in my existential stage. It is a deadly style of writing [though it did work for Camus...]" Givon recalls... Although publicity for the new novel refers to this as Givon's "literary debut", "Running Through the Tall Grass" is actually his second novel. His first came out in 1966. Givon says "...it sank without a trace, thank God. It was terrible..."... He is currently working on his third novel, "Too Late for the Revolution" [HarperCollins, slated for Winter 1998]... He has created a novel that is both enjoyable and worthwhile. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM KIRKUS REVIEW (June 1, 1997): ...A riveting first novel with current topical settings and themes--Algeria, the Congo, ultra-right terrorism--impressively evokes the closed and obsessive lives of men who operate beyond the law...The author's origins and experience give his story--about the protagonist Robert Aron--an authority that makes it as edgy as a conventional thriller and as precisely reported as a news story. But Robert's tale, told by three main characters, is essentially an ambitious study of men who become obsessed to the point of madness with causes and killing. Two of them, Robert and Jojo, both born in Algeria, join the Foreign Legion straight out of school and begin fighting France's colonial wars--first in Indochina, then in Algeria itself. As the story opens in 1962, Marie, Robert's girlfriend, relates how Robert and Jojo desert from the Foreign Legion when France [proposed to give] Algeria its independence and joined the OAS, an underground right-wing organization that [fights] to keep Algeria French. An attack organized by Jojo on a[n Arab] hospital so sickens Robert that he decides to leave the OAS and be repatriated, like so many French Algerians [Pieds Noirs] to France, where Marie will join him. But Jojo, the second narrator, has other plans...[He] forces Robert at gun-point to go an fight with him in the Belgian Congo in the midst of the [Katanga secession, as mercenaries in support of Moisé Tchombé]... A despairing Robert relates the third section: a haunting record of cruelty and mindless violence as the now deranged Jojo keeps killing... A brief epilogue from Marie offers closure, if not confort... Givon's debut is a stunning portrait of men of action who can't, or won't, stop. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Quotes from TheWall Street Journal, July 29, 1997. Art of the Debut. By Merle Rubin ...Mr. Givon's novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass" (HarperCollins, 288 pages, $23), examines the plight of the Pieds Noirs, Algeria's French colonials, many of whom felt bitterly betrayed by their mother-country when Charles de Gaulle negotiated a settlement with the Arab-led National Liberation Front in 1962. In a poignant posthumous novel , Albert Camus, himself a pied noir, movingly evoked the vanished world of the displaced persons, most of them poor immigrants from France, Alsace, Italy, Greece and Spain, who came to be viewed as oppressors of the disenfranchised Arab populace. Mr. Givon's book is more of a thriller, focusing on the activities of the outlawed Secret Army Organization, which conducted a terrorist campaign against the Arabs and French authorities, including a failed assassination attempt on de Gaulle himself ( the subject of another thriller, "Day of the Jackal"). ... Tautly written and vividly imagined, "Running Through the Tall Grass" is a gripping tale of suspense and a heart-rending story of a lost soul. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HOUSTON CHRONICLE Strong novel conveys strife of country battling colonialism By STEVEN E. ALFORD RUNNING THROUGH THE TALL GRASS By Thomas Givon. HarperCollins ($23) Thomas Givon's absorbing and accomplished novel is an instructive inquiry into the disordered yet passionate conflicts --historical, ethnic and national -- visited on Algeria as it sought to liberate itself from the French. Without imbuing his narrative with an ideological agenda, Givon manages to portray the complexity of a society striving to [deal with the corrosive legacy of] colonialism... ...As Thomas Flanagan's "Year of the French" did for Ireland, "Running Through the Tall Grass" uncovers the spines between the heterogeneous layers of a diverse Algerian society. It vividly portrays the blood, the passion, the brutality, and the panoramic messiness of a polyglot society attempting to spawn a new identity from heterogeneous groups vying for dominance. This novel is an impressive achievement, and given the current activity of religious extremists in Algeria, one worthy of our attention. ************** Steven E. Alford teaches film and literature at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. James E. Copeland Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 285-5150 Home: (713) 666-9582 Fax: (713) 527-4718 From jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU Wed Aug 27 22:32:39 1997 From: jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU (Johanna Rubba) Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:32:39 -0700 Subject: No subject Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: jrubba at polymail.calpoly.edu ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU Thu Aug 28 18:26:56 1997 From: jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU (Johanna Rubba) Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 11:26:56 -0700 Subject: Sorry ... Message-ID: .. to broadcast this message, but an account problem caused the deletion of my Funknet instructions. I'm going on 2 weeks vacation and need to suspend my subscription, esp. since I get all Funknet messages twice -- my mailbox space is limited. I hope the Funknet managers can suspend me, and send the re-subscription instructions, and maybe fix the double message problem. Thanks! Once again, sorry to bother the whole list with this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: jrubba at polymail.calpoly.edu ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From cb1 at ST-AND.AC.UK Wed Aug 20 14:05:19 1997 From: cb1 at ST-AND.AC.UK (Christopher Beedham) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 15:05:19 +0100 Subject: conference announcement Message-ID: Conference announcement The XXXIst Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) will take place on 26-30 August 1998 at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. A First Circular will be sent to SLE members in November 1997. Anyone requiring further details now please contact Dr Christopher Beedham, Department of German, School of Modern Languages, The University, Buchanan Building, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9PH, Scotland/UK, e-mail: cb1 at st-andrews.ac.uk. To join the SLE please contact Prof. Dieter Kastovsky, Universit?t Wien, Institut f?r Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universit?tsstr. 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria, e-mail: dieter.kastovsky at univie.ac.at. From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at COLORADO.EDU Wed Aug 20 16:50:56 1997 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at COLORADO.EDU (FRAJZYNGIER ZYGMUNT) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:50:56 -0600 Subject: Final Program, Intl.Symposium on Reflexives and Reciprocals (fwd) Message-ID: FINAL PROGRAM International Symposium on Reflexives and Reciprocals August 29-30, 1997 Boulder, Colorado Room 158 A-B, University Memorial Center Friday, Aug. 29 8:30-9:00 - Opening Remarks, Peter Spear, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 9:00-9:30 - Bernd Heine, University of Cologne, Germany - Polysemy involving reflexive and reciprocal markers in African languages 9:30-10:00 - Mathias Schladt, University of Cologne, Germany - The Typology and Grammaticalization of Reflexives with Special Reference to Body Parts 10:00-10:30 - Nino Amiridze - Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi Georgia - Georgian grammaticalized body-part tav- and its role in the economic motivation of language. 10:30-10:45 - BREAK 10:45 - 11:15 - Suzanne Kemmer - Rice University, Houston, TBA 11:15-11:45 - Elly van Gelderen, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona - When's a Pronoun an Anaphor? 11:45-12:15 - Ekkehard Koenig, Free University of Berlin - Towards a Typology of Intensifiers (Emphatic Reflexives) 12:15-2:00 LUNCH 2:00-2:30 - Werner Abraham, University of Groningen, Netherlands - On the Intensifier 'Selbst' in German 2:30-3:00 - Ekaterina A. Lyutikova, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow - Reflexives and Emphasis in Tsakhur (Nakh-Dagestanian) 3:00-3:30 - Sergio Meira, Rice University, Houston, Texas - Reflexives and the Accidental Active-Stative Systems of Cariban 3:30-3:45 BREAK 3:45-4:15 - Donna Gerdts, Simon Fraser University, Urnaby, B.C., Canada - Core and Grammaticized Reflexives and Reciprocals in Halkomelem 4:15-4:45 - Jeff Turley, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah - A Prototype Analysis of Romance Indeterminate Reflexive Construction 4:45-5;15 - Ricardo Maldonado, Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas, UNAM, Jurica, Mexico - Conceptual Distance and Transitivity Increase in Spanish Reflexives Sunday, August 30 9:00-9:30 - Zygmunt Frajzyngier, University of Colorado - Affectedness, control and anaphora: the reflexive forms and functions 9:30-10:00 - Eric Reuland, University of Utrecht, Netherlands - Primitives of Binding 10:00-10:30 - Pierre Pica, URA 1720 CNRS, Paris, France - On the 'real' nature of reflexivity 10:30-10:45 BREAK 10:45-11:15 - Frantisek Lichtenberk, University of Auckland, - Reciprocals without Reflexives 11:15-11:45 - Elena Maslova, University of St. Petersburg, Russia and University of Bielefeld, Germany - Reciprocals in Yukaghir Languages 11:45-12:15 - Meichun Liu, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan ROC - Reciprocal Marking by Verbs 'Come' and 'Go' in Mandarin 12:15-2:00 LUNCH 2:00-2;30 - Martin Everaert, University of Utrecht - The Syntax (and Semantics) of Reciprocals 2:30-3:00 - William McGregor - Reflexive and reciprocal constructions in the Nyulnyulan languages (Dampier Land and Kimberley, Western Australia) 3:00-3:30 - Gunsoo Lee, St. Louis, MO - Referentiality and Long-distance Binding 3:30-3:45 Break 3:45-5:15 Free discussion of problems and issues related to reflexives and reciprocals. From tony at BENJAMINS.COM Wed Aug 20 20:14:30 1997 From: tony at BENJAMINS.COM (Tony Schiavo) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 16:14:30 -0400 Subject: New Books: Functional Linguistics Message-ID: John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the following new titles in the field of Functional Linguisics: CONTENT, EXPRESSION AND STRUCTURE STUDIES IN DANISH FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen et al. (eds.) 1996 xvi, 510 pp. Studies in Language Companion Series, 29 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 381 5 Price: $97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3032 3 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This collection of papers offers an alternative to mainstream functional linguistics on two points. Especially in American linguistics, function and structure are often viewed almost as polar opposites; in addition, structure is often understood as being only a matter of linguistic form - or expression - as opposed to content. The book tries to illustrate why function and structure must be understood as mutually dependent in relation to language - and why the most interesting aspect of language structure is the way it structures the content side of language. In this, the book represents a reaffirmation of traditional concerns in structural linguistics, especially with respect to the structural integrity of individual languages - but with a reversal of traditional priority: structure is not autonomous, but must be understood on the basis of function. Without being hostile to typological and universal generalizations, the articles suggest that similarities between languages can only be responsibly discussed on the basis of an understanding that includes a respect for language differences. The book contains discussions of a number of different languages including Nahuatl, Danish Sign Language, French, and Tlapanec, and focuses on the way meaning is organized in the grammar of Danish. A final section sums up theoretical perspectives. PRAGUE LINGUISTIC CIRCLE PAPERS TRAVAUX DU CERCLE LINGUISTIQUE DE PRAGUE VOLUME 2 Eva Hajicova, Oldrich Leska, Petr Sgall, Zdena Skoumalova (eds.) 1996 viii, 346 pp. US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 673 3 Price: $79.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 5442 7 Price: Hfl. 140,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Volume 2 of Prague Linguistic Circle Papers constitutes a single whole together with Vol. 1 of the series, reviving the classical series of Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague which was of a great importance for the development of European structural linguistics in the 1930s. In the present volume, nine Czech linguists and eight authors from abroad present new ideas in various domains from basic properties of the system of language to discourse types and to history of linguistics in the 20th century. Fundamental issues of structural linguistics are discussed by C.H. van Schooneveld and F. Cermak, those of quantitative linguistics by M. Tesitelova, of sentence structure by H.-H. Lieb, Y. Tobin, J. Panevova, T. Gross and J. Sabrsula, discourse patterns are dealt with by J. Hoffmannova, S. Cmejrkova and F. Sticha, phonology and graphemics by E. Battistella, A. Svoboda and P.A. Luelsdorff with S.V. Chesnokov, and the lexicon by L. Waugh and V. Strakova. For further information please e-mail Bernadette Keck: service at benjamins.com From fjn at U.WASHINGTON.EDU Thu Aug 21 01:56:13 1997 From: fjn at U.WASHINGTON.EDU (Frederick Newmeyer) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 18:56:13 -0700 Subject: forthcoming book on form and function In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970820150519.0068d618@bute.st-and.ac.uk> Message-ID: To all FUNKNET subscribers, I've just finished a book that I think will be of interest to many of you. It's called LANGUAGE FORM AND LANGUAGE FUNCTION and will be published by MIT Press. In a nutshell I argue that syntactic structure is BOTH 'autonomous' AND functionally motivated. I've put Chapter I on the Web if you would like to have a look. The URL is: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~fjn/lflf.html I won't be sending MIT Press the final version for another month, so if you have any comments I would love to hear them. --fritz newmeyer ********************************************* Frederick J. Newmeyer Professor and Chair Department of Linguistics University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-4340 USA TEL: 206-543-2046 FAX: 206-685-7978 E-MAIL: fjn at u.washington.edu HOME PAGE: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~fjn/ From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Sun Aug 24 23:05:47 1997 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 18:05:47 -0500 Subject: Givon book signing Message-ID: Tom Givon has just published an excellent Novel titled: "Running in the Tall Grass" (Harper-Collins, summer 1997). The book has been widely reviewed as a winner, and it will be reviewed locally in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday August 24. Givon will read from the book at a signing at the Barnes and Noble Book Store at 3003 West Holcomb Blvd in Houston on Wednesday, August 27 at 7:30 pm. Many of Givon's friends at Rice will be there, and I would like to invite any of you who might be interested to come by the Bookstore and chat with him on Wednesday evening. I have copies of some of the reviews, and would be glad to share them with anyone who is interested. Cheers, Jim Copeland James E. Copeland Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 285-5150 Home: (713) 666-9582 Fax: (713) 527-4718 From copelan at RUF.RICE.EDU Tue Aug 26 13:27:53 1997 From: copelan at RUF.RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 08:27:53 -0500 Subject: Givon Review Excerpts Message-ID: Folks, I have been overwhelmed with requests for copies of reviews of Tom Givon's "Running Through the Tall Grass". In order to respond to all at once I'm risking your disfavor by posting some excerpts on the Net. .. well, it's applied linguistics -- just as Eco was applied semiotics. Jim Copeland Reviews (and Quotes from Reviews) of Thomas Givon's "Running Through the Tall Grass" THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN (August 3, 1997) INTO THE HEART OF MADNESS by Helen E. Heltzel , Oregonian Book Editor With "Running Through the Tall Grass", Givon has a winner. Residence in Marseilles included front-row seat on Algeria. ...Thomas Givon, the redneck professor, doesn't fit anyone's idea of what an academic should look like. His sailor's cap and the toothpick dangling from his lips tell you right away he's no pipe-and-tweeds kind of fellow... Givon, a lone wolf who has grabbed life by the lapels while simultaneously earning [his academic degrees]...brings the strength of both worlds to his new novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass". A book that combines adventure story with character study and a vivid snapshot of a turbulent piece of recent history, it is one of the best works of fiction to come out of the Pacific Northwest in recent memory...Because Givon was on hand observing much of the action, his novel has a ring of authenticity that could exist only by being there. Yet it also displays a novelist's gift, including the ability to tell a story and delineate characters, and a keen ear for the written word... ...Central to Givon's story are the Pieds Noirs, literally black feet, which was the condescending name the French gave their Algerian countrymen. France looked down on this melange of foreigners who settled the Algerian shores. But to the Pieds Noirs themselves, the French connection was their obsession... Not unlike "The English Patient", Michael Ondaatje's celebrated novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass" envelopes the reader with its lyrical language, its limited cast of characters and a plot that insistently moves forward... Givon started what became "Running Through the Tall Grass" in the late 1960s. He saw great material in the Pieds Noirs, but "...I knew I had to get to Katanga to end the story...". His method: to enroll in another doctoral program back in the States, this time in linguistics, and apply for a fellowship to study Bantu languages in the Congo. So far so good. But when Givon completed his novel in the early 1970s, his agent couldn't sell it. Givon blames the influence of the French writer Albert Camus, who had been, quite coincidentally, a pieds noirs. "...I was in my existential stage. It is a deadly style of writing [though it did work for Camus...]" Givon recalls... Although publicity for the new novel refers to this as Givon's "literary debut", "Running Through the Tall Grass" is actually his second novel. His first came out in 1966. Givon says "...it sank without a trace, thank God. It was terrible..."... He is currently working on his third novel, "Too Late for the Revolution" [HarperCollins, slated for Winter 1998]... He has created a novel that is both enjoyable and worthwhile. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM KIRKUS REVIEW (June 1, 1997): ...A riveting first novel with current topical settings and themes--Algeria, the Congo, ultra-right terrorism--impressively evokes the closed and obsessive lives of men who operate beyond the law...The author's origins and experience give his story--about the protagonist Robert Aron--an authority that makes it as edgy as a conventional thriller and as precisely reported as a news story. But Robert's tale, told by three main characters, is essentially an ambitious study of men who become obsessed to the point of madness with causes and killing. Two of them, Robert and Jojo, both born in Algeria, join the Foreign Legion straight out of school and begin fighting France's colonial wars--first in Indochina, then in Algeria itself. As the story opens in 1962, Marie, Robert's girlfriend, relates how Robert and Jojo desert from the Foreign Legion when France [proposed to give] Algeria its independence and joined the OAS, an underground right-wing organization that [fights] to keep Algeria French. An attack organized by Jojo on a[n Arab] hospital so sickens Robert that he decides to leave the OAS and be repatriated, like so many French Algerians [Pieds Noirs] to France, where Marie will join him. But Jojo, the second narrator, has other plans...[He] forces Robert at gun-point to go an fight with him in the Belgian Congo in the midst of the [Katanga secession, as mercenaries in support of Mois? Tchomb?]... A despairing Robert relates the third section: a haunting record of cruelty and mindless violence as the now deranged Jojo keeps killing... A brief epilogue from Marie offers closure, if not confort... Givon's debut is a stunning portrait of men of action who can't, or won't, stop. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Quotes from TheWall Street Journal, July 29, 1997. Art of the Debut. By Merle Rubin ...Mr. Givon's novel, "Running Through the Tall Grass" (HarperCollins, 288 pages, $23), examines the plight of the Pieds Noirs, Algeria's French colonials, many of whom felt bitterly betrayed by their mother-country when Charles de Gaulle negotiated a settlement with the Arab-led National Liberation Front in 1962. In a poignant posthumous novel , Albert Camus, himself a pied noir, movingly evoked the vanished world of the displaced persons, most of them poor immigrants from France, Alsace, Italy, Greece and Spain, who came to be viewed as oppressors of the disenfranchised Arab populace. Mr. Givon's book is more of a thriller, focusing on the activities of the outlawed Secret Army Organization, which conducted a terrorist campaign against the Arabs and French authorities, including a failed assassination attempt on de Gaulle himself ( the subject of another thriller, "Day of the Jackal"). ... Tautly written and vividly imagined, "Running Through the Tall Grass" is a gripping tale of suspense and a heart-rending story of a lost soul. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HOUSTON CHRONICLE Strong novel conveys strife of country battling colonialism By STEVEN E. ALFORD RUNNING THROUGH THE TALL GRASS By Thomas Givon. HarperCollins ($23) Thomas Givon's absorbing and accomplished novel is an instructive inquiry into the disordered yet passionate conflicts --historical, ethnic and national -- visited on Algeria as it sought to liberate itself from the French. Without imbuing his narrative with an ideological agenda, Givon manages to portray the complexity of a society striving to [deal with the corrosive legacy of] colonialism... ...As Thomas Flanagan's "Year of the French" did for Ireland, "Running Through the Tall Grass" uncovers the spines between the heterogeneous layers of a diverse Algerian society. It vividly portrays the blood, the passion, the brutality, and the panoramic messiness of a polyglot society attempting to spawn a new identity from heterogeneous groups vying for dominance. This novel is an impressive achievement, and given the current activity of religious extremists in Algeria, one worthy of our attention. ************** Steven E. Alford teaches film and literature at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. James E. Copeland Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 285-5150 Home: (713) 666-9582 Fax: (713) 527-4718 From jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU Wed Aug 27 22:32:39 1997 From: jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU (Johanna Rubba) Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:32:39 -0700 Subject: No subject Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: jrubba at polymail.calpoly.edu ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU Thu Aug 28 18:26:56 1997 From: jrubba at POLYMAIL.CPUNIX.CALPOLY.EDU (Johanna Rubba) Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 11:26:56 -0700 Subject: Sorry ... Message-ID: .. to broadcast this message, but an account problem caused the deletion of my Funknet instructions. I'm going on 2 weeks vacation and need to suspend my subscription, esp. since I get all Funknet messages twice -- my mailbox space is limited. I hope the Funknet managers can suspend me, and send the re-subscription instructions, and maybe fix the double message problem. Thanks! Once again, sorry to bother the whole list with this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics ~ English Department, California Polytechnic State University ~ San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ~ Tel. (805)-756-2184 E-mail: jrubba at polymail.calpoly.edu ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~